Personal Creativity Reflection

Creative Confidence
Creative Confidence has had perhaps the most profound effect on me more than any other book we
have read this semester. Two of the biggest obstacles I face are my lack of self-confidence and my
tendency to procrastinate. Creative confidence has helped me start to tackle both of those weaknesses
this semester.
Firstly, Creative Confidence has helped me to just do it. Being confident in my abilities is not always
easy, but this semester I took a big leap. My honors college, Digital Cultures and Creativity, requires
four specific classes for the program, culminating in the last semester with the capstone course. My
Digital Cultures and Creativity capstone2, the DCC ETC, integrates the concepts I have explored in my
time in Digital Cultures and Creativity, both in class and the workshops held outside of class. DCC ETC
is a data visualization project that attempts to change meaningless information as a thing and turn it
into something much more impactful. Many introductory biology students are often baffled by,
arguably, the most vital, yet abstruse function in living systems cellular respiration. My capstone will
attempt to convey how one of the parts of cellular respiration, the electron transport chain, operates
through an interactive model of the system. DCC ETC will utilize 3D printing and an Arduino to
ensure that my model is more accurate, engaging, and interactive than other models that Ive come
across in my career as a biology student.
While this project may sound interesting to an onlooker, it becomes far more complicated by the fact
that I have very little experience with CAD or Arduino. In a semester where I am absolutely swamped
with schoolwork, I have had to teach myself how to 3D model and how to code and integrate a
microcontroller with all of the components necessary to set up a model for a very complex process. The
old me would have given up and picked an easier project, but the person who read the book Creative
Confidence was able to convince herself that she would be able to complete the project, and I stuck with
it.
I expand upon this idea in my conclusion, but I have never been very creative when it comes to artistic
talents, however, when I was forced out of my comfort zone into making a cooler last year, I became

2

There is more information regarding my capstone presentation in the conclusion section.

Creative Confidence 23

Personal Creativity Reflection

more confident in my abilities and I now enjoy making art, though Im still not that good at it. I have
continued to make art, with my confidence boosted, and Im very pleased with the result!
Creative Confidence has also allowed me to stop procrastinating as much as I used to. The action
catalysts listed in the Leap chapter have helped me on numerous occasions, including this PCR and
when we worked on our design thinking app challenge.

Get Help.
Create Peer Pressure
Gather an Audience
Do a Bad Job
Lower the Stakes
These five steps will help me in my academic career as well as my professional future, and this book
has certainly helped me to improve myself for the better.

Creative Confidence 24

Personal Creativity Reflection

Creative Confidence 25